WHAT Social Media With Meredith Minkow of Bleacher Report

Meredith Minkow of Bleacher Report joined the Women’s Hoops and Talks podcast to talk about her time working with the Timberwolves and Lynx, learning sports photography on the job, and what it was like shadowing Liz Cambage during WNBA All-Star weekend.

We loved hearing about working out next to LeBron James, discussing what it will take for Karl-Anthony Towns to thrive, and learning about what preparation goes into live-tweeting games.

Along the way we discuss our favorite iconic photos (hello, Brandi Chastain), learn about TikTok (Tara’s note: still don’t get it), and talk about how we are getting mentally prepared for the upcoming NBA season.

All of this and more on the latest WHAT podcast.

Download the episode

Highlights

Icebreaker: What is an iconic sports photo that has stuck with you?

3:00 Working out in the gym with LeBron James.

8:00 Getting to know Meredith who grew up in Chicago and became a basketball fan during the Jimmy Butler years.

10:45 What was it like working for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx? A lot of responsibility for an intern, a family atmosphere. It is really awkward to put cameras in people’s faces all the time like you need to do with social media.

15:00 What does she think it will take for Karl-Anthony Towns to reach his potential? He’s been unlucky and seemed pretty poorly matched with his early coaches, hopefully a year with less drama and a coach who understands him will do him well.

17:00 What does doing social for Bleacher Report involve? She works on the social team to cover all sports. Live-tweeted the Super Bowl. Takes a lot of research to learn the sports that she doesn’t know as well, like when the MLB playoffs came around.

19:30 What non-basketball sports are you finding most interesting? College games, it is cool to see each week which players go off. A lot of them have inspiring stories.

21:00 Social media is rapidly changing. Have you thought about what the job might be like in 5 years? In 10? There will be new platforms, and some will stick and some won’t but you have to explore them. Like TikTok. What about Virtual Reality Social Media?

26:00 How did you get started in photography and what have you learned in your recent jobs and how have you gown in your craft? She got into it in middle school and picked it up again after her father died. She started walking and taking pictures as a way to stay connected to him. She likes doing portraits of players because you can really showcase their personalities.

30:00 Without the right equipment it is really hard to do action shots, you need a big lens to really capture the in-game moments. She likes to take picture of players off the court. It is a nice way to capture their personalities. The community of photographers she has met on Twitter and Instagram have been really helpful.

32:00 What have been some of the highlights of the WNBA season for her? The players are incredibly welcoming. Shooting a game and realizing she is on the court to do it, that is really exciting. It has been an incredibly competitive season.

35:00 Following Liz Cambage during All-Star Weekend was a highlight. She is a fascinating player.

40:00 WNBA players are very accessible and down-to-earth, Chiney Ogwumike is Super Woman.

41:00 How are you getting ready for the NBA season? Meredith is getting rest! Tara prepares for the offseason by contacting the NBA about players in the wrong uniforms on their website. Cassidy is memorizing rosters.

47:00 We are pretty sure there is nothing Damian Lillard can’t do.

49:00 Outro

Get Social

Follow Blazer’s Edge on Twitter @blazersedge, WHAT Pod @HoopsAndTalks, Tara @tcbbiggs, and Cassidy @CassidyGemmet. This week’s guest: @murrminks

Women’s Hoops And Talks (W.H.A.T.)

Join the Women’s Hoops And Talks Facebook group to talk about Trail Blazers with others who identify as women who love basketball.

Music used in the episode: “Happy Alley” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Subscribe to the Blazer’s Edge podcast to get all the latest episodes.